(b)(4).Investigation summary the device was returned with the distal tip of the blade broken off and not returned.The remaining blade portion was scratched and had evidence of contact with metal in or out of the operative field.This blade tip portion may have broken off of the device during transport to our analysis site.During functional testing on gen11, an alert screen was displayed.A probable cause for the device to stop activating and for the gen11 to display an alert screen is blade damage.Due to the returned condition of the device, the tissue effect issue could not be confirmed.The device was disassembled to inspect the internal components and no anomalies were found.Probable causes of blade damage, include breakage, external contact during pre-op or general use, blade contact with other devices, staples, or clips during the procedure, or using any means other than the blade wrench to attach or detach the blade.Once minor blade damage has occurred, subsequent activation may increase the severity of the blade damage.This in turn can result in failing the pre-run test with the generator and displaying an alert screen.The alert screens that can result are alerts such as ¿tighten assembly,¿ ¿blade error detected,¿ or "relax pressure on blade" followed by a ¿replace instrument¿ screen later in the procedure.Continued usage of the damaged blade can result in a broken blade.The batch history record was reviewed and no defects, nc¿s or protocols related to the complaint, were found during the manufacturing process.
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